Haven’t really posted in a bit due to 80+hour work weeks and if I hear the words “health care” again, I’ll throw up.  But today, I was inspired. Wait, wrong word… today I was motivated.  Wait, still not there… today I was incensed!  There we go.

The cover of USA Today reads “For Feds, more get 6-figure salaries“.  Let’s dive into the details.

• The number of workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession
• Federal employees making over $100,000 jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants in the first 18 months of the recession
• Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in Dec 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009
• The Transportation Department went from 1 person earning a salary over $170,000 to 1,690 employees in the last 18 months
• Obama and Bush (and Congress) have approved pay hikes of 3% (2008), 3.9% (2009), and 2% (2010)
• In 2008, Congress intiated a bonus system based on merit.  Due to the unusually high amount of bonuses it has paid out, Congress voted in October to stop the system by 2012.
• Federal workers taking home six figures outnumber those who earn less than $40,000, which is the average pay in the private sector.

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I do not think that all government employees deserve to be poor.  I understand how expensive it is to live in D.C.  But I object to the idea of government employees getting such large raises during a time when the private sector is cutting jobs.  Again, not because I believe they deserve to be poor, but because their salaries are supposed to be based on some private sector equivalent, and here it is clearly not.

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The redistribution of wealth is not taking place by taxing the rich and offering unemployment to the poor.  It is taking place by taxing the rich and then the government hires everyone and gives them a salary.  Should we also bring up the pensions?

Last 3 posts by Eric B.

• Nassim Taleb on the Economy - June 25th, 2010
• Full Circle - May 3rd, 2010
• The Dark Side :) - April 5th, 2010